What is a Culture Operating System (COS)?
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 - Joe Kiedinger
The culture challenge
I’ve spent decades in the business of helping leaders become more effective and grow their organizations. In this line of work, you get to know so many amazing people, each with their own unique strengths and capabilities. The people I work with truly care about their people and their performance, and it shines through whenever I get the opportunity to talk with them. You start to recognize patterns in where they struggle. Some of those struggles might be industry or job specific, but others are there no matter what industry, environment, or position they are in.
One of the patterns I found was that many leaders generally struggle to build and maintain a strong culture within their team or organization. And that’s not for a lack of trying – the leaders I work with are putting their all into what they do, and all it takes is one conversation with them to figure that out. Creating and maintaining an effective company culture that keeps employees fulfilled and satisfied, enhances growth and value for the organization, and supports human dignity is far from easy. The majority of leaders lack the system and the tools necessary to get the most out of their efforts.
The Culture Operating System – why we exist
This is why Dignify exists today. We fill the gap by equipping organizations with a Culture Operating System (COS) – where culture meets operations. The COS is a customized strategic framework designed to align a company’s vision, values, and goals, which ensures a systematic approach to growing a company’s culture and operations. It is a comprehensive solution that gives leaders the tools necessary to establish and maintain a high-performing culture at all levels of an organization. The COS combines technology, coaching, and curriculum together to achieve this result.
With a COS in place, your culture becomes a positive energy that creates growth across your organization. Employees are given what they need to build trust, respect, and understanding among themselves and with their leaders, which drives engagement, satisfaction, and fulfillment through every level of an organization. People experience what it’s like to work in an environment that supports their dignity, and it works wonders for their productivity and performance.
Leaders are empowered to maximize their potential and create enhanced value for the people within their teams and those that they serve. With the COS, leaders learn to:
- Lead themselves
- Strengthen their motivation & confidence
- Grow their emotional intelligence
- Align their purpose & goals
- Serve their teams & get positive results
- Lead others
- Set a clear direction & align their team
- Create a culture of inspiration & engagement
- Help their team meet their full potential
- Set expectations & hold their team accountable for who they are
- Lead initiatives
- Set key initiatives
- Assign responsibility
- Set milestones
- Celebrate success
What difference does a COS make?
Organizations are given the boost they need to achieve their goals, whatever they may be. The COS is a universal structure that can be applied to any organization, in any situation, in any industry, and for any purpose. Clients of ours have implemented the COS and its tools to bring a wide variety of visions and goals into reality. After implementing the Culture Operating System, organizations have reported:
- 17% higher profitability across the board
- A 52% increase in productivity for teams
- Fully aligned leadership teams
- Increased accountability to standards and outcomes
A Culture Operating System enables you to increase your revenue, scale faster to your objectives, align your leadership teams to pull in the same direction, and hold each other accountable to it. All these things are made more attainable when your people are fulfilled, your leaders are united, and your culture enables outstanding performance through dignity. Systems create accountability, and accountability is necessary for success.
The bottom line
The Culture Operating System provides you with the tools (technology, coaching, and curriculum) you need to support your people and achieve your personal and organizational goals. By creating a culture that works for your people and providing leaders with the training necessary to maintain it, you will create an environment conducive to achieving your operational goals.
JOE KIEDINGER
ACTION PLAN: Be the difference you want to see – set yourself and your people up for success with the COS! Get started today.